The president will appear before Parliament upon its invitation, where a
joint session of the lower and upper house will sit in the National
Assembly.

National Assembly Speaker Jacob Mudenda told the house yesterday: “I wish
to inform this House that His Excellency will tomorrow deliver the Sona
address.”

As required by the Constitution, the president will be updating Parliament
on the policies he plans to put in place to fix the challenges confronting
the country.

In it, Mnangagwa is expected to report on the dire state of the country,
unveil the government’s agenda for the coming year, and may also propose
to Parliament certain legislative measures. This programme sets out
government’s plans to address various key government programmes.

Mnangagwa will address the nation in his capacity as head of State, not
only as head of government.

The Sona is a constitutional obligation.

Prior to the Sona, the 2017 National Budget was presented to a joint
sitting of both houses of Parliament on December 7, by Patrick Chinamasa,
who is back at the Treasury again with the title Finance and Economic
Planning minister.

The speech that he delivered was a summary of the full National Budget
Statement for 2018, which was tabled together with the Budget Estimates
for the 2018 financial year in the “Blue Book” and a Departmental Draft of
the Finance (2018) Bill which gives effect to proposals on tax, VAT,
customs and excise duties and mining royalties.